Boise VA Helping PTSD Veterans Change Their Tune

Local nonprofit fights veteran suicides with music
KIVI ABC 6 News
Lacey Darrow
Jul 1, 2016

Thousands of our veterans suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. More troops have committed suicide since the Vietnam War than have died in war. 

But for some, hope is being found behind the wood and strings of a guitar.

Every Monday night, a group of veterans gathers at the VA in Boise to play guitar and talk about life.

With this group of heroes, it is not about how good you are, it is about changing your tune.

They are all different veterans, from different wars, who suffer from PTSD, physical injuries or other emotional distress. They use music as a form of healing.
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 ***REMINDER: It is not "22 a day" and is much higher. Veterans are committing suicide double the civilian population and the majority are over 50 years old.

Pennsylvania PTSD veterans getting free guitar lessons

If you have a music store or teach, please think of doing this as well. Strumming a guitar helps with PTSD physically, mentally and yes, even spiritually. It helps with short term memory loss and even complications from medications.

Organization provides free guitar lessons for veterans
The Sentinel
December 7, 2013

SHIPPENSBURG — Cumberland Wellness and Arts will offer free guitar lessons for area veterans.

Music is a tool to help combat post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and other disorders becoming prevalent among veterans. Cumberland Wellness and Arts, at 235 E. King St., will give veterans the tools to learn how to play the guitar.

Veterans can email or call the center to sign up for an appointment, and there are varying levels of musical experience available for coaching. A guitar can be made available for the lessons.
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Guitars helping veterans move past trauma

The phrase was coined by William Congreve, in The Mourning Bride, 1697

Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast

To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.

I've read, that things inanimate have mov'd,

And, as with living Souls, have been inform'd,

By Magick Numbers and persuasive Sound.

What then am I? Am I more senseless grown

Than Trees, or Flint? O force of constant Woe!

'Tis not in Harmony to calm my Griefs.

Anselmo sleeps, and is at Peace; last Night

The silent Tomb receiv'd the good Old King;

He and his Sorrows now are safely lodg'd

Within its cold, but hospitable Bosom.

Why am not I at Peace?

Guitars helping veterans move past trauma
South Charlotte News
Apr. 26, 2013
By Eileen Schwartz

Jim Spagnolo, left, receives a guitar from volunteer instructor Dan Pfeiffer after completing the G4V program.

What do guitars and veterans have in common? More than you can imagine.

Ask Gary Walbrun and he’ll tell you about Guitars for Vets.

The national organization started in Milwaukee, Wis., in 2008. There now are 25 chapters nationwide that offer loaner guitars, free lessons and the gift of a guitar for veterans who complete a 10-week series of one-on-one lessons – all to help veterans suffering the effects of trauma.

Walbrun and his wife relocated to Fort Mill three years ago from Minneapolis.

Walbrun, 61, retired as a human resource executive, and he’s also a lifelong musician who plays in a group called RyvrWud. After reading about Guitars for Vets in a guitar magazine, Walbrun volunteered to be a guitar instructor to veterans.

Want to donate? Have a guitar to donate or looking for a way to thank a veteran? Contact Guitars for Vets: visit www.guitarsforvets.org or contact Gary Walbrun at G4VCarolina@comporium.net or “Guitars For Vets Carolinas” on Facebook.
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PTSD Veterans finding healing with strings

LOMA LINDA: Guitars provide path to health
Guitar lessons at the VA center can help veterans cope with the emotional scars of their service
Press-Enterprise
BY MARK MUCKENFUSS
STAFF WRITER
Published: 04 November 2012

Terry Moorer said playing the guitar is the only therapy that has made her feel better. Jeff Allen said his memory has improved.

And for Ben Juarez, the faces that haunt him disappear only when he is focused on the guitar, making music.

All three veterans are students in Guitars for Vets at the VA Medical Center in Loma Linda. The program, started a year ago, provides guitars and music instruction for veterans who have been referred by the center’s behavioral health department. Students get 10 individual half-hour lessons over 10 weeks. If they complete the course, they receive a guitar of their own and can participate in group sessions with other graduates.

Music therapy, started in the early 20th century, is used widely in mental health settings.
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